Financial transactions systems are typically used to provide a consumer with access to funds for a purchase of some sort. Many financial transaction systems are token based as they require the consumer to submit a token, usually in the form of a credit, debit, or smart card, that identifies a financial account associated with the consumer. A terminal associates the financial account data and the customer data stored in the token with transaction data to generate a transaction message. In a retail store having a plurality of terminals for processing transactions at a checkout counter or the like, the transaction message is typically transmitted through a communication network to a host computer that is typically located on the store's premises. The host verifies the content of the message and then forwards the message contents to a transactional processing system that validates the association of the account with the customer data and generates an authorization message for the transaction. The authorization message is returned to the host and the host notifies the terminal at the checkout counter that an authorization message has been received so the transaction approval may be presented to the consumer. The consumer may then acknowledge the transaction approval and receive the goods or services.
The communication network that couples the terminals at the checkout stations to the store host is typically comprised of communication cables, cable interface units, routers, amplifiers, or other known hardware devices and computer programs for operating the computer communication network. Thus, when checkout stations are moved or the store layout changed, the cables and other network components require moving as well. Sometimes communication cables and other communication components are damaged or their operational characteristics are degraded by movement. Consequently, additional time is needed for testing and verifying the operation of the computer communication network following movement of the network components.
In an effort to avoid the problems of maintenance and infrastructure associated with network communication components, stores are increasingly using wireless communication systems and methods for communicating messages between terminals at checkout stations and the store host. Such networks do not require many of the components of a wired communication network, especially the cables. While the routing and maintenance of communication cables may be frustrating or expensive, they do provide secure communication links because the cables are usually located where visitors to the store are unlikely to be able to access them. Also, because they provide point to point communication paths, they cannot be easily interrupted for access to the datastreams that are transmitted through them. Wireless networks, on the other hand, do not require expensive cable layouts, maintenance, and verification. Consequently, they allow the checkout stations to be more mobile because they are not coupled to cables that need to be rerouted after moving a station. The terminals in wireless communication systems typically include a low power transmitter and receiver. The store host also includes a transmitter and receiver or a transceiver that performs both functions for communication with the terminals at the stations.
While the wireless networks do not require the infrastructure that cable communication systems require, they do present additional security risks because they broadcast through the air space of a store. These transmissions are available to anyone having a receiver with an appropriate antenna that is tuned to the proper frequency for message reception. Additionally, the transmissions may penetrate the walls of a store facility and become available for reception at locations outside the premises of the store. The susceptibility to eavesdropping presents at least two problems for wireless communication in retail stores. One problem is the possibility that transaction messages are intercepted for the purposes of gleaning transactional data such as account and customer data for the unauthorized manufacture of bogus identification and financial tokens. Another problem of wireless transmission susceptibility to interception is the use of the data in such messages by industrial espionage agents. Although encryption techniques may be used to frustrate the use of the data content of the transactional messages, industrial espionage may still gain insight into the operations of a competitor by analyzing transactional message traffic flow. For example, by detecting regular periods of consumer activity at the store, a competitor may time sales to lure the store's customers to its facility instead. In the past such information could be obtained by having industrial espionage agents present in a store to observe consumer activity and the like. However, the expense of having such personnel limited the size of a competitor's espionage force. Because the agents can only be at one place at a time, there was some limit on the amount of espionage that a competitor could conduct in this manner. However, the interception of transactional data, including traffic flow patterns, may be obtained from low cost receivers with recording media units. These receivers may be located and left in the vicinity of a store and later retrieved for recovery of the data stored on the recorded media. Such units may even be located on the store's premises in hard to discover places such as above ceiling tiles in a bathroom or other rarely observed locations. If the units are provided with a transmitter, they could be used to collect data and transmit it to an espionage data processing sight at times when the store is deserted to avoid detection from operation of the unit.
Consequently, what is needed is a way of frustrating the ability to effectively use transactional data communicated between a store host computer and terminals located in the store over a wireless network.
What is needed is a system that discourages the interception of transactional messages communicated over a wireless network in a retail store.